Falcons MC – Canada The Falcons MC (Veterans Canada) trace their roots to the Falcons MC Lahr.
In early 1968, former RCAF Station Lahr became CFB Lahr. From then until it’s closure in the early 1990’s, many Canadian Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen were posted to Germany and members of the Royal Canadian Dragoons started the Falcons MC Lahr in 1972.
There continues to be a discrepancy about this date with the current Constitution and members claiming lineage back to 1970, but the 1972 date has been verified by one of the founding members (the original Road Captain). Canadian citizenship was a requirements to join, at the time, but the club partied and rode with many local clubs including the Outsiders MC, Moto Club Rhin. The Falcons MC Lahr still rides today, although Canadian citizenship is no longer a requirement to become a member.
As members of the RCD rotated through Germany and came back home, the Falcons MC disbanded as a club in Canada.
In 2000, Shon “Gator” Burwell, having been posted to Gagetown wanted to start a club, he decided the name “Falcons” would be suiting given the history. Gator wrote a new club Constitution, and designed new Colours with a new font and the original 3 voted on the choices (Gator, John “Trump” Vanderlinden and Darren “Gypsy” O’Neill ) then within weeks Joe “Grinch” Major and Panhead Paul joined the ranks. The original Constitution was short enough to fit on one page and to be read, out loud, at the start of every club meeting.
The club grew quickly with new chapters in Bowmanville (Durham), Edmonton and then Petawawa. When the Petawawa chapter formed, it had an original member from the Falcons MC Lahr, but he soon let go and the chapter was taken over by the VP , it was in around that time a local club called Boys MC disbanded and the Falcons Petawawa chapter absorbed certain members. The Durham chapter was the first to wear the “Veterans Canada” bottom rocker. The idea was that while a chapter was considered to be on probationary status, they would wear “Veterans Canada” which would be replaced by their location (city for example) once their probation had ended. The use of “Veterans Canada” caught on and it remained the standard bottom rocker until 2019 when it was replaced with “Veterans”.
The club spread with chapters forming in Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and in British Columbia. The original Falcon back patch faced to the right (as viewed from behind). As the Edmonton chapter was starting, a non-member, who was an artist, said that he thought that it looked like a bumble bee and that was it, he was asked to help redraw the patch! The current back patch, with the Falcon diving in the attack and facing the left (as viewed from behind) is the work of that artist.
The club required prospective members to be Veterans and to ride a North American made motorcycle. Eventually both rules were somewhat relaxed, allowing each chapter to include a percentage of Civilian members. Prospective members could ride any make of cruiser, but would not be considered for full-path membership without a North American made motorcycle.
In the mid 2000’s, members of the Falcons MC Durham chapter left and created a new Veterans-based club, Shell Shock MC. Just after the ten year anniversary of the Falcons MC Canada, the club underwent some internal conflict with many members leaving or being expelled. The club, eventually, lost most chapters. Some members went to established clubs and some started new clubs such as the Coalition Crew and the Devils Regiment MC.The chapters in British Columbia actually dissolved and reformed as a completely different Falcons MC. Although the names were the same, the colours and centre patch were different. The original Falcons MC Canada used Black and Copper, while the Falcons MC which started in BC used Blue and White. Throughout this period the Warrior Crew in CFB Petawawa kept the original colours flying.
In mid 2016, a chapter of Falcons MC, sponsored by BC, was sanctioned in Brockville, Ontario. This meant that Ontario saw both sets of colours flying. Recognizing that having two clubs with the same name didn’t make much sense, the members from Brockville and Petawawa met in February 2017 and by April, the Falcons MC colours from BC had been respectfully retired and it was time to rebuild.
With a firm eye on Brotherhood and Motorcycles, the Falcons MC is once again flying proud and growing with chapters in multiple provinces.
Roamer Crew
Note: This history was compiled by Mike “Catfish” Chiviendacz through conversations with Dave “Texas” Walker, Murray “Tanker” Decker, Shon “Gator” Burwell, Joe “Grinch” Major and Dan “Lizard King” Lucia as well as old club records, emails, Facebook posts and internet postings. It was last updated on 8/11/2020